LE BLOG DE MADAME BIRTWISTLE

A teacher's blog about primary French language learning ! This blog aims to be an enjoyable way for pupils to share and consolidate what they are learning at school with their family at home.

Monday, 7 January 2019

Un pull de Noël

This December, primary children from one of the schools in which I teach French, got involved in designing and painting a snowman...

Sunday, 11 March 2018

La Météo

Weather is a very neutral topic of conversation. You can talk about the weather to anyone, anywhere - it’s the perfect way to brea...

Saturday, 20 January 2018

AVIS DE RECHERCHE!

KS2 pupils enjoyed producing “Wanted” posters in primary French lessons last term! They began the unit “ Les descriptions ” ...

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About Me

Jane Birtwistle

I am an experienced and dedicated Modern Foreign Languages specialist teacher who aims to deliver successful lessons in which significant progress is made by pupils. My experience ranges from teaching Key Stage 1 to undergraduate level and includes teaching in both the UK and France.

I began my teaching career as a secondary specialist at a Roman Catholic High School in the north-west of England. When the school was awarded specialist language college status in 2003, I was appointed as Primary Modern Foreign Languages Co-ordinator, working in partnership with the feeder primary schools promoting primary language learning.

Pupils aimed to achieve a basic level of competence in a language and develop their intercultural awareness. They were also encouraged to develop their interest and enthusiasm for learning languages and recognise the importance of acquiring language skills.

I am currently teaching KS2 primary languages across six different Catholic schools where I am creating and delivering a Scheme of Work in French which covers the new National Curriculum Programmes of Study. My scheme is a lively communicative course which has a topic based approach combined with clear grammatical progression. It offers plenty of enjoyable and motivating activities and caters for a wide ability range.

I firmly believe that modern foreign language learning has an important part to play in general education at primary level. It supports general language and literacy development of generic language skills. It introduces children to the sounds and structures of a new language at an age when they are receptive to this, and stimulates their curiosity and imitative abilities. It develops knowledge of other countries and promotes positive attitudes towards other cultures and speakers of other languages. Finally, an early start in language learning can provide a strong and motivating basis for further learning.

I am constantly striving to ensure that my language lessons are challenging, engaging and creative. I am so proud of my pupils and never cease to be amazed at the progress they make throughout their primary language learning journey.

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